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It’s been seven months since I started Opportunity Works, a staffing services company with a focus on placing people with disabilities. I knew this would be a slow process, but I am getting very nervous about how slow. There is forward moving activity each week, so I’m still confident this model is a good one, but I’m getting nervous about my continued ability to pay my bills with no income and I really miss Ann Taylor and Nordstrom. I knew I was fine with nothing in for six months and had hope that I would be able to start paying myself a little bit before that point.

This hunger might be a good thing for the company. I thrive under pressure. I am one of those people who keeps at least a 12 hour day schedule, because if I don’t have enough to do, I do nothing. I do not deal with failure well. As a result of figuring this out, I learned a long time ago, to get creative and think differently when it starts to look like failure is imminent. There have been times in my life where I had people tell me to give up on something or that it was okay if I didn’t finish (my marathon for example). But, those comments, coupled with a look of pity only agitate me.

This past week I received a call from a social service worker whom I had never heard of. The message left said she was referred to me by the sales guy (let’s call him Jack) I had wanted to hire, but lost to a big company and benefits. I did not know where Jack had gone and had no contact with him since he rejected our offer, so I was surprised to receive this call. The social service worker has a few people receiving disability related services looking for employment. I sent Jack an e-mail thanking him and suggesting we could still have a business relationship in that perhaps he could sub-contract some work to us.

I got a nice response and he gave me his business contact information. I may even be able to subcontract some work his way. I have a couple of companies who have asked me for very specific skill sets that I do not have qualified people for, so maybe Jack can help me fill those orders. One of those orders came as a result of cold calls. The dreaded cold calls.

I have been agonizing over the cold calls. Unlike a normal person, this has not been so much because I dread the string of rejections. That really doesn’t bother me at all. It’s more just an overwhelming feeling of narrowing the call list down and writing a script and then sitting still long enough to work through the lists.

In comes my husband. He did our website for us and has been a source of moral support. I forgot that he once had a life of cold calling though. And, he is very decisive. He immediately told me how to make the call lists and he wrote the script for me. But, wait, it gets better. He’s been making calls for me. Another challenge with me making calls is that I have the attention span of a goldfish. Technology really only magnifies this problem. So, I have everything I need, but can’t seem to sit still long enough to make calls. I now have time blocked off on my calendar for that job, but I really appreciate my husband’s help on getting those started for me. Thanks Greg!

Last week started off feeling a little lost and unsure of the future of Opportunity Works. But, between some chances being given to me to fill some positions, help from Greg and some fresh ideas I ended once again feeling confident that I can make this work. Let’s see what this week has in store!